A Laurel Lake man admitted Monday to being responsible for the death of Millville Police Officer Christopher Reeves while fleeing cops two years ago.

Timothy Seidel faces up to 20 years in prison for the crime that resulted in the department's first in-the-line-of-duty death in 93 years.

Seidel, 25, pleaded guilty to the crash before Superior Court Judge Robert Malestein. The courtroom was packed with police, family and friends of Reeves, 40.

The officer was killed July 8, 2012, when his cruiser was struck by Seidel's black Scion hatchback at 3rd and Broad streets, while responding to a request for backup. Police initially tried to pull Seidel over after he allegedly struck another police cruiser. He was reportedly traveling at a high speed when the crash occurred.

Officer Jonathan Seidel — who is not related to the defendant — was a passenger with Reeves and was injured.

The defendant on Monday pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree aggravated manslaughter while eluding and second-degree aggravated assault while eluding.

Timothy Seidel stood solemnly with his head down and hands folded during the latter half of the hearing. He calmly answered "yes" to questions from his attorney, Jeffrey Hark, including if he understood that police behind him were trying to pull him over, if he got in a crash with another police vehicle, if he knew that Reeves had been killed and that Johnathan Seidel suffered significant injuries.

After the hearing, Hark said when his client was indicted last year, they reviewed a report done by state police along with dashboard videos of the crash.

Timothy Seidel decided to plead guilty last month, Hark said, shortly before a judge was set to rule on a motion filed by the prosecution that would've prevented the defense from arguing that the police department's pursuit of Seidel violated state guidelines.

"Prior to the judge making a decision on that, Mr. Seidel wanted to accept responsibility and start the process for the family to heal and move on, And bring some closure to this matter, without the additional grief and pain of a trial," Hark said.

Seidel's guilty plea is an "open" plea since no exact sentence was agreed upon. Hark and Seidel requested no more than 20 years.

The plea allows the prosecution to persuade Malestein to sentence up to the maximum 20 years. Seidel must serve 85 percent of any sentence he receives before becoming eligible for parole.

The prosecution consisted of county senior trial attorneys Michael Ostrowski and Charles Wettstein. Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae also was present, and said Monday's decision was important to Reeves' and Jonathan Seidel's families.

"This is a very important step in the process," Webb-McRae said. "We've got a guilty plea today, and we're excited about having the opportunity to go to sentencing and have victim impact statements from the families, so they can tell us in their own words how they've been impacted in this very tragic event."